Method of and a device for milking an animal

ABSTRACT

A method and device for milking an animal by using at least one milking machine ( 5 ) including at least one teatcup ( 3 ) having a teatcup liner ( 11 ) forming a space defined by a wall surface. The teatcup ( 3 ) is arranged to be applied to a teat in such a manner that the wall surface extends around and abuts the teat. The device includes a control unit arranged to control the application of the teatcup ( 3 ) in such a manner that an arbitrary portion of the wall surface abuts different teat portions during a first milking occasion with respect to an animal and during a later milking occasion with respect to this animal, respectively.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention refers to a method for milking an animal by meansof at least one milking machine comprising at least one teatcup having ateatcup liner forming a space defined by a wall surface, the methodcomprising the step of applying said teatcup to a teat in such a mannerthat the wall surface extends around and abuts the teat. Moreover, theinvention refers to a device for milking an animal by means of at leastone milking machine comprising at least one teatcup having a teatcupliner forming a space defined by a wall surface, said teatcup beingarranged to be applied to a teat in such a manner that the wall surfaceextends around and abuts the teat.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The teatcup liners which are provided in teatcups of such milkingmachines defined above are subjected to a pulsating movement due to thecyclically alternating pressure level prevailing in the pulsatingchamber formed in the teatcup between the outer surface of the teatcupliner and the inner surface of a teatcup shell in relation to therelatively low pressure level prevailing in the inner space defined bythe teatcup liner. One says that the teatcup liner collapses cyclically.At each collapse the teatcup liner is compressed in such a manner thatthe milk flow through the teat is hindered.

When a teatcup liner collapses the wall of the teatcup liner is foldedalong two diametrically opposed, essentially vertical folding lines(flexing folds), which are relatively well defined. It is to be notedthat there are also teatcup liners which are manufactured in such amanner that flexing folds are obtained at for instance threepredetermined locations. In most cases, it has appeared that teatcupliners collapse at the same location at each collapse occasion, i.e. thewall of the teatcup liner is folded along the same folding lines eachtime. One reason for this phenomenon may be small differences in thethickness of material of the wall of the teatcup liner. In practice,such differences are not possible to avoid in teatcup liners availabletoday by the manufacturing methods which are offered, i.e. any usualmoulding method. However, even if it is possible to manufacture ateatcup liner with an absolutely uniform wall thickness a weakeningarises at each collapse occasion and because thereof such predeterminedpositions for the flexing folds will develop.

Today, the equipment and methods are developed for automatic andvoluntary milking of cows, i.e. systems where the cows are permitted towalk about freely and at need visit a milking stall having a milkingrobot for automatic application of the teatcups to the teats of the cow.The application may, for instance, be performed by means of a robot armengaging and applying the teatcups successively in a determined order bymeans of a support frame which may be positioned by a robot arm andwhich comprises the four teatcups suspended by a respective small armwhich is arranged to project the teatcup vertically, by means of asupport frame which may be positioned by a robot arm and which comprisesfour teatcups which are applied successively by moving the support frameupwardly against the teats, or by means of a fixed set of teatcups whichby means of a robot arm are applied simultaneously to the teats of thecow. In these cases, each teatcup will be applied to the same teat ateach milking occasion with respect to one cow. In addition, the teatcupwill have the same orientation with respect to “its” teat. This meansthat the folding lines mentioned above will be located at essentiallythe same location at each milking occasion with respect to eachindividual teat. Due to the fact that the teatcup liner always collapsesat the same location on the teat, there is a risk of injuries on theteat, in particular with regard to the fact that the cows will be milkedmore frequently by the automatic milking system described above then bythe previously used conventional milking methods with manual applicationof the teatcups.

Also in cases of, for instance, a milking parlour with several milkingstalls, there is a risk that the teatcup liner will collapse at the samelocation on the teat at successive milking occasions, in particular inconnection with a higher degree of automatization with respect to theapplication of the teatcups.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a method and a deviceby which this risk of injuries may be reduced or remedied.

This object is obtained by the method initially defined andcharacterized in that the application of said teatcup is controlled insuch a manner that an arbitrary portion of the wall surface with asignificant frequency abuts different teat portions during a firstmilking occasion with respect to an animal and during a later milkingoccasion with respect to this animal, respectively. By such a method,one may avoid the collapse of the teatcup liner at the same locationwith respect to the teat, at least not at each milking occasion. Therisk of injuries on the teat ought to be reduced even if the collapselocation of the teatcup liner is not displaced at each milking occasion.

According to an embodiment of the invention, said first and secondmilking occasions form two successive milking occasions. According tothis embodiment, the risk of the injuries mentioned above should becompletely eliminated.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the control isobtained by rotating said teatcup between the first milking occasion andthe second milking occasion. Thereby, said teatcup may be rotated abouta longitudinal centre axis extending through the teatcup. By rotatingthe teatcup in such a manner about its own axis, it may be ensured thatit collapses at different locations with respect to the teat at eachmilking occasion.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the control isobtained by applying said teatcup to a teat at the first milkingoccasion and to another teat at the second milking occasion. Sincedifferent teatcup liners collapse at different locations it is alsopossible to ensure with a great probability by such a measure that ateat will be subjected to a teatcup liner which collapses at differentlocations with respect to the teat at different milking occasions. Thismeasure may, for instance, be realised by rotating said teatcup about anaxis of rotation, which extends outside the teatcup and in parallel to alongitudinal centre axis through the teatcup.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the method involvesmilking of said animal by a first milking machine at the first milkingoccasion and by a second milking machine at the second milking occasion.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the application ofsaid teatcup is performed by means of a gripping member of a device forautomatic application of a teatcup to a teat of an animal. Thereby, themilking machine may comprise a set of teatcups and the control may beobtained by applying the teatcups of this set to the teats of an animalin a first order at the first milking occasion and in a second order atthe second milking occasion. Said first and second order may refer tothe succession by which the teatcups are engaged by means of saidgripping member from a teatcup magazine which is arranged to enablestoring of the teatcups between said milking occasions.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the control isobtained by means of an identification of the animal in question at eachmilking occasion and by a registration of the teat portion which saidportion of the wall surface of the teatcup liner abuts at said firstmilking occasion for determining the teat portion which said portion ofthe wall surface of the teatcup liner is to abut at said second milkingoccasion. Moreover, it is possible to obtain the control by means of arandom number generator for determining the teat portion which theportion of the wall surface of the teatcup liner is to abut at therespective milking occasion.

The object is also obtained by the device initially defined andcharacterized by means arranged to control the application of saidteatcup in such a manner that an arbitrary portion of the wall surfacewith a significant frequency abuts different teat portions during afirst milking occasion with respect to an animal and during a latermilking occasion with respect to this animal, respectively.

Advantageous embodiments of the device are set forth in the descriptionand claims presented below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is now to be described more closely by means ofdifferent embodiments and with reference to drawings attached, in which

FIG. 1 discloses schematically a view from above of a milking stall.

FIG. 2 discloses schematically a cross-sectional view of a teatcuphaving an open teatcup liner.

FIG. 3 discloses schematically a cross-sectional view of a teatcuphaving a closed teatcup liner.

FIG. 4 discloses schematically a sideview of a teatcup and a part of amilk conduit.

FIG. 5 discloses schematically a view from above of a gripping arm of adevice for automatic application of teatcups.

FIG. 6 discloses schematically a view from above of a part of a robotarm for the application of a set of teatcups according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 discloses schematically a view from above of a part of a robotarm for the application of a set of teatcups according to anotherembodiment.

FIG. 8 discloses schematically a side view of a teatcup claw.

FIG. 9 discloses schematically a view from above of a milking planthaving two milking stalls.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DIFFERENT EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 discloses a milking stall defining a space 1 for an animal to bemilked. In the following, it is referred to the milking of cows even ifthe method and the device according to the invention are applicable toall animals which are milked, for instance sheep, goats, buffaloes,horses etc. The milking stall comprises a teatcup magazine 2, which isarranged to receive four teatcups 3 which via a respective milk conduit4 are connected to a milk collecting member of a schematically disclosedmilking machine 5. The teatcup magazine 2 is arranged to store theteatcups 3 between each milking occasion and thereby also enablecleaning of the teatcups 3. Furthermore, in connection to the milkingstall there is a device 6 for automatic application of the teatcups 3 tothe teats of the cow to be milked. This device 6 is defined in thefollowing as the milking robot 6 and comprises a robot arm 7 having agripping member 8 which is arranged to engage and keep a teatcup 3. Themilking stall 3 is intended to be located in a greater space where thecows are permitted to walk about freely and at need voluntarily visitthe milking stall for being milked or where the cows are moved to themilking stall. It is to be noted, that the invention also is applicableto large stocks and where several milking stalls and milking robots areprovided. In such applications, the cows may be moved in groups to themilking stalls. Furthermore, a schematically disclosed identificationdevice 9 is provided in connection to the milking stall disclosed inorder to enable identification of the individual cow entering themilking stall in order to be milked. The milking machine 5, the milkingrobot 6 and the identification device 9 are in the example disclosedconnected to a control unit 10 for controlling the milking process andregistering different individual-related parameters.

Each teatcup 3 comprises a teatcup liner 11 which is disclosed in across-sectional view in FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIG. 2, the teatcup liner 11is disclosed in an open condition, i.e. it has an essentially circularcross-sectional shape which permits a free milk flow through the teatcupliner, and in FIG. 2, the teatcup liner 11 is disclosed in anessentially closed or collapsed condition, in which essentially no milkflow through the teatcup liner 11 is permitted. It is to be noted thatthe invention also is applicable to teatcup liners having anothercross-sectional shape than a circular one, for instance a triangular orrectangular cross-sectional shape. When the teatcup liner 11 collapses,it is folded along two essentially diametrically opposed folding lines12, 12′ which extend in the essentially longitudinal direction of theteatcup liner 11, i.e. essentially perpendicularly to the cross-sectiondisclosed in FIGS. 2 and 3. Due to uneven parts in the wall of theteatcup liner and in particular in the thickness of the wall of theteatcup liner, the position of the folding lines 12, 12′ of a specificteatcup liner will be the same at each collapse occasion.

In accordance with the present invention, the application of theteatcups 3 is controlled by means of the control unit 10 in such amanner that an arbitrary portion of an inner wall surface of the teatcupliner 11 of a teatcup 3 with a large probability will abut differentteat portions at a first milking occasion with respect to the cow and ata later second milking occasion with respect to this animal,respectively. In other words, the folding lines 12, 12′ will be locatedopposite to different teat portions at different milking occasions. Theinvention may be realised by the fact that the arbitrary wall surfaceportion of the teatcup liner 11 according to a first functional modeabuts different teat portions of different teats at different milkingoccasions, i.e. different teatcups are applied to the same teat atdifferent milking occasions and/or according to a second functional modeabuts different teat portions of one and the same teat at differentmilking occasions. Advantageously, the first milking occasion and thesecond milking occasion may form two successive milking occasions.

According to a first embodiment, it is possible by the arrangementdisclosed in FIG. 1 to obtain the first functional mode by applying aspecific teatcup 3′ by means of the milking robot 6 to a teat at thefirst milking occasion and applying said teatcup to another teat at thesecond milking occasion. Thereby, the teatcups 3 may be applied to theteats in a first order or succession at the first milking occasion andin a second order or succession at the second milking occasion. Here,the succession refers to the succession by which the teatcups 3 areengaged by means of the gripping member 8 from the teatcup magazine 2.Within the scope of the invention, it is of course also possible toengage the teatcups 3 from the teatcup magazine 2 in the same order butchange the order by which the teatcups 3 are applied to the teats atdifferent milking occasions. In both these cases, the succession at eachmilking occasion may be determined by means of the control unit 10. Thecow which is present in the milking stall and is to be milked isidentified by means of the identification device 9. By means of aregistering member, for instance in the form of a computer memory (notdisclosed) of the control unit 10, the succession which was applied atthe preceding milking occasion with respect to this cow is registered.Now, the control unit 10 selects quite simply another succession bymeans of any determined algorithm or by means of a random numbergenerator which may form a part (not disclosed) of the control unit 10.Of course, it is also possible to let the random number generator of thecontrol unit 10 determine the succession at each milking occasionwithout considering the succession at the most preceding milkingoccasion. Even if in such a case there is a certain risk that the sameteat portion will be subjected to the collapse location of the teatcupliner 11 at two successive milking occasions, it is very probable that aspecific teat portion will not be subjected to one collapse locationduring several successive milking occasions.

According to a second embodiment, it is possible by the arrangementdisclosed in FIG. 1 to obtain the second functional mode by rotating theteatcup 3, see FIG. 4, between the first milking occasion and the secondmilking occasion about a longitudinal centre axis x extending throughthe teatcup 3 in its longitudinal direction. Since the milk conduit 4 isrelatively rigid with regard to a rotation, such a rotation of theteatcup 3 is facilitated by means of a swivel connection 13 permittingsuch a rotation. The swivel connection may be provided on the milkconduit 4, or between the milk conduit 4 and the teatcup 3 proper. Theswivel connection 13 is, as appears of FIG. 4, advantageously designedin such a manner that it also permits rotation of the pulse conduit,wherein the pulse conduit and the milk conduit may form a common conduitbundle. The swivel connection 13 may thereby, for instance, comprise aninner passage for the milk and an outer chamber surrounding the innerpassage and forming a passage for the pulse conduit. The rotation may,for instance, be provided by means of the gripping member 8 disclosed inFIG. 5. The gripping member 8 comprises two grip jaws 14 which may bemoved towards and away from each other for engaging a teatcup 3therebetween. The embodiment disclosed in FIG. 5 comprises three wheels15, one on each grip jaw 14 and one which is provided between the gripjaws 14. When the teatcup 3 is engaged by the gripping member 8, thethree wheels 15 will abut the circular cylindrical outer wall of theteatcup 3. Since one of the wheels 15 is driveable by means of a drivingmember (not disclosed) the teatcup 3 may be rotated. It is to be notedthat it ought to be sufficient with a relatively small rotation of theteatcup 3 between each milking occasion in order to prevent the risk ofinjuries on the teat due to the collapse of the teatcup liner 11, forinstance in the order of 5-15°. Moreover, the rotation may be controlledby means of the control unit 10 by the random number generator and/or bytaking into consideration the knowledge of preceding milking occasions.The registering of a teat portion which abuts an arbitrary wall surfaceportion of the teatcup liner may be performed by determining the angleof rotation of the teatcup 3 in relation to a zero position.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 is disclosed another type of milking robot having arobot arm 7 comprising a holder 16 arranged to hold a set of teatcups 3and at the same time apply these teatcups 3 to the teat of a cow.

In FIG. 6 is disclosed a robot arm 7 having a holder 16 which accordingto a third embodiment operates according to the first functional modementioned above. The holder 16 comprises an element 17 which is arrangedto receive four teatcups 3 and which is rotatably provided in the holder16 about an axis x′ of rotation, which is essentially parallel to thelongitudinal centre axis x through each teatcup 3. By rotating theelement 17 a quarter of a round between each milking occasion withrespect to one cow, it is ensured that different teatcups 3 will beapplied to the same teat at two successive milking occasions. In thesame manner as according to the first embodiment, the rotation of theelement 17 may be controlled by means of the control unit 10 and by arandom number generator and/or by taking into consideration theknowledge of preceding milking occasions.

FIG. 7 illustrates a fourth embodiment operating according to the secondfunctional mode and comprising a robot arm 7 having a holder 16 in whichfour teatcups 3 are rotatably provided about the longitudinal centreaxis x extending through the respective teatcup 3. Also according to thefourth embodiment, the milk conduit 4 extending from each teatcup 3 maycomprise a swivel connection for facilitating the rotational movement ofthe teatcup 3. In the same manner as according to the second embodiment,the rotation may be controlled by the control unit 10 by means of therandom number generator and/or by taking into consideration theknowledge of preceding milking occasions.

FIG. 8 illustrates a teatcup claw 18 which via four short milk conduits19 (of which merely two are disclosed in FIG. 8) is connected to fourteatcups 3 of the type disclosed above and via a conduit bundle 20 whichmay comprise long pulse conduits and a long milk conduit is connected toa milk receiving member of a milking machine (not disclosed in FIG. 8).

According to a fifth embodiment, working according to the firstfunctional mode, the conduit bundle 20 may be provided with a swivelconnection 21 permitting the rotation of the teatcup claw 18, forinstance a quarter of a round, between each milking occasion. Also inthis case, it is possible to control the rotation by means of thecontrol unit 10 in the manner which is described above but thisembodiment is also applicable to manual or semiautomatic milking, i.e.in the cases that the teatcups 3 are applied manually to the teats of acow.

According to a sixth embodiment operating according to second functionalmode, it is also possible to provide the short milk conduits 19 in sucha manner that they are rotatable in the teatcup claw 18 or to provideeach short milk conduit 19 with a swivel connection 13 of the typementioned above.

FIG. 9 illustrates a seventh embodiment operating according to the firstfunctional mode. According to this embodiment, there are two, orpossibly several, milking stalls having a respective milking machine 5.The control unit 10 in this embodiment is arranged to control theopening of an inlet gate 22 depending on which individual cow thatapproaches the milking stall and is identified by the identificationdevice 9, for instance in such a manner that an individual cow is notgiven access to the same milking stall at two milking occasionsfollowing directly after each other. Advantageously, the differentcontrol units 10 are thereby connected to each other in order to enableexchange of information.

The present information is not limited to the embodiments describedabove but may be varied and modified within the scopes defined by thefollowing claims. For instance, it is not necessary, within the scope ofthe invention, that the second milking occasion follows directly afterthe first milking occasion but it may be sufficient that the arbitraryportion abuts different teat portions at for instance only each third orfourth milking occasion. Furthermore, if there is a milking plant havingfor instance two milking stalls operated by a common robot, it is withinthe scope of the invention possible to utilise the set of teatcups ofone milking stall in the second milking stall and vice versa.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for milking an animal by means of atleast one milking machine comprising at least one teatcup having ateatcup liner forming a space defined by a wall surface, the methodcomprising the step of applying said at least one teatcup to a teat insuch a manner that the wall surface extends around and abuts the teat,wherein the application of said at least one teatcup is controlled insuch a manner that an arbitrary portion of the wall surface abutsdifferent teat portions during a first milking occasion with respect toan animal and during a later milking occasion with respect to thisanimal, respectively.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein saidfirst and second milking occasions form two successive milkingoccasions.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the controlledmanner is obtained by rotating said at least one teatcup between thefirst milking occasion and the second milking occasion.
 4. A methodaccording to claim 3, wherein said at least one teatcup is rotated abouta longitudinal center axis extending through the at least one teatcup.5. A method according to claim 3, wherein said at least one teatcup isrotated about an axis of rotation which extends outside the at least oneteatcup and in parallel to a longitudinal center axis through the atleast one teatcup.
 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein thecontrolled manner is obtained by applying said at least one teatcup to ateat at the first milking occasion and to another teat at the secondmilking occasion.
 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein theapplication of said at least one teatcup is performed by means of agripping member of a device for automatic application of a teatcup to ateat of an animal.
 8. A method according to claim 7, wherein saidmilking machine comprises a set of teatcups and that the control isobtained by applying the teatcups of this set to the teats of an animalin a first order at the first milking occasion and in a second order ata second milking occasion.
 9. A method according to claim 8, whereinsaid first and second orders refer to the sequence by which the teatcupsare engaged by said gripping member from a teatcup magazine arranged toenable storing of the teatcups between said milking occasions.
 10. Amethod according to claim 8, wherein the controlled manner is obtainedby means of an identification of the respective animal at each milkingoccasion and a registration of the teat portion which said portion ofthe wall surface abuts at said first milking occasion for determiningthe teat portion which said portion of the wall surface is to abut atthe next second milking occasion.
 11. A method according to claim 1,wherein the controlled manner is obtained by means of a random numbergenerator for determining the teat portion which said portion of thewall surface is to abut at the respective milking occasion.
 12. A devicefor milking an animal by means of at least one milking machinecomprising: at least one teatcup having a teatcup liner forming a spacedefined by a wall surface, said at least one teatcup being arranged tobe applied to a teat in such a manner that the wall surface extendsaround and abuts the teat, and means arranged to control the applicationof said at least one teatcup in such a manner that an arbitrary portionof the wall surface abuts different teat portions during a first milkingoccasion with respect to an animal and during a later milking occasionwith respect to this animal, respectively.
 13. A device according toclaim 12, wherein said means is arranged to enable rotation of the atleast one teatcup between different milking occasions.
 14. A deviceaccording to claim 13, wherein said rotation involves the rotation abouta longitudinal center axis extending through the at least one teatcup.15. A device according to claim 13, wherein said rotation involves therotation about an axis of rotation, which extends outside the at leastone teatcup and in parallel to a longitudinal axis through the at leastone teatcup.
 16. A device according to claim 12, including a device forautomatic application of a teatcup to a teat of an animal by means of agripping member.
 17. A device according to claim 16, wherein saidmilking machine comprises a set of teatcups and that the device forautomatic application of the teatcups is arranged to apply the teatcupsof this set to the teats of an animal in a first order at the firstmilking occasion and in a second order a second milking occasion.
 18. Adevice according to claim 17, wherein said first and second order refersto the sequence by which the teatcups are engaged by said grippingmember from a teatcup magazine arranged to enable storing of theteatcups between said milking occasions.
 19. A device according to claim12, including an identification device arranged to identify the animalin question at each milking occasion, a registration device arranged toregister the teat portion which said portion of the wall surface abutsat each milking occasion, and a processing device arranged to determine,by means of said registration, the teat portion which said portion ofthe wall surface is to abut at each milking occasion.
 20. A deviceaccording to claim 12, including a random number generator arranged todetermine the teat portion which said portion of the wall surface is toabut at each milking occasion.